NORWAY — An expanded police station with its own entrance and a new community room are some of the ideas Oxford Hills Technical School students presented to the Board of Selectmen on Thursday night.
Students in an engineering and architectural design class were asked to work on the floor plan of the Town Hall to optimize use of the space.
The Board of Selectmen appointed a committee two years ago to look at ways to use the Danforth Street building more efficiently and effectively.
Students Jade Morin, Lindsay Day, Nick Gillespie, Peter Misner and Miranda Murphy and their teacher, Daelynn Elizabeth, who is a registered architect, showed the results of their work to the board Thursday.
The design shuffles uses of spaces. For example, the selectmen meeting room would be expanded to include a kitchenette for public meetings, while the Police Department space would be expanded into the community room.
Key to the plan was the use of the central “rotunda” in the lobby as a presentation area to the community.
“This is an excellent planning tool,” Town Manager David Holt said.
In 2007, police Chief Rob Federico, who oversaw the space needs committee, told selectmen the Police Department was in need of more space for interviewing people and for a detective’s office. It also needed space to consolidate the department’s other functions, such as storing abandoned bicycles and removing the police officers’ locker room from the fire station.
Later that year, students from Oxford Hills Technical School presented seven options, which included using the former Herbert Roberts house on Danforth Street for the police station expansion.
Holt said the designs had many “wow” factors, including new construction, but it was improbable they could implement it in the near future because of costs.
In this case, he said, the students have submitted practical designs that may be cost effective.
While adjacent town property was considered for new construction, it was deemed too costly in the end.
Holt said the next step is to show the plans to Town Office employees for feedback.
Selectmen praised the group for their work.
“Very impressive,” Selectman Warren Sessions said.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
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- Norway Code Enforcement Officer Joelle Corey-Whitman looks at a 3-D model of the Town Office made by Oxford Hills Technical School students. The students presented their design to the Board of Selectmen on Thursday night.
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- Norway Town Manager David Holt looks at drawings of the Town Office made by Oxford Hills Technical School students. The plans were presented to the Board of Selectmen on Thursday night.
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- Oxford Hills Technical School students present their plans for a redesigned Norway Town Office to selectmen Thursday night. Standing in back, from left, are students Jade Morin, Lindsey Day, Nick Gillespie, Peter Misner and Miranda Murphy.
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- Oxford Hills Technical School student Nick Gillespie speaks to Norway selectmen Thursday night about the redesign of the Town Office to provide more space for the Police Department. A group of students presented a floor plan and 3-D model they created for the town.
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